"If I had, then I should have given information, I think," said the other. "It all depends." "Ah! but how could you have found them again?" inquired Mr. Chalk, with the air of one propounding a poser. "With my map," said the captain slowly. "Before I left I made a map of the island and got its position from the schooner that picked me up; but I never heard a word from that day to this." "Could you find them now?" said Mr. Chalk. "Why not?" said the captain, with a short laugh. "The island hasn't run away." He rose as he spoke and, tossing the fragments of his visitor's pipe into the fireplace, invited him to take a turn in the garden. Mr. Chalk, after a feeble attempt to discuss the matter further, reluctantly obeyed. (_To be continued._) _Illustrated Interviews._ LXXX.--M. CURIE, THE DISCOVERER OF RADIUM. BY CLEVELAND MOFFETT. Very well do I remember my first impression of M. Curie. It was in the Rue Cuvier, at the Sorbonne Laboratories in Paris, where he was lecturing that day in the big amphitheatre, while I waited in an adjoining room among the air-pumps and electrical apparatus. Suddenly a door opened and there came a burst of applause, a long clapping of hands, and at the same moment a tall, pale man, slightly bent, walked slowly across the room. On this occasion I simply made an appointment to see M. Curie the next morning at the École de Physique; but I profited by the opportunity to ask his assistant, M. Danne, some preliminary questions about radium. Was it true, _could_ it be true, that this strange substance gives forth heat and light ceaselessly and is really an inexhaustible source of energy? Of course, I had read all this, but I wanted to hear it from the mouth of one who knew. [Illustration: M. AND MME. CURIE USING THEIR APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE INTENSITY OF RADIUM. _From a Photo._ ] "It is quite true," said M. Danne, "that pure radium gives out light and heat without any waste or diminution that can be detected by our most delicate instruments. That is all we can say." "Is the light that it gives a bright light?" "Reasonably bright. M. Curie will show you." "Can he explain it? Can anyone explain it?" "There are various theories, but they really explain very little." M. Danne went on to indicate other properties of radium that are scarcely less startling than these. Besides heat and light this strange metal gives out constantly three kinds of invisible rays that move with the velocity of light, or thereabouts, and, that have separate and well-marked attributes. These rays may be helpful or harmful, they may destroy life or stimulate it. They are capable not only of shortening life or prolonging it, but of modifying existing forms of life--that is, of actually creating new species. Finally, by destroying bacteria, they may be used to cure disease, notably the dread lupus, recently conquered by Finsen's lamps, and now apparently conquered again by a simpler means.